Vision Quest

[Darth Abyss]

Korriban, Valley of the Dark Lords

It had been a while since Darth Abyss had ventured to the ancient homeworld of the sith, but he still clearly remembered that day. A battle had taken place here, between him and another lord of the sith, and he still could feel every wound, every cut, every broken bone he had suffered back then. In the end neither of them had been able to claim the final victory of the other, but they both left in a fairly bad shape. It was only a very slight relief that this lord later returned to him, and offered him her loyalty, at least for the time.

But Korriban was more than just a memories of past battles. Everything, to exactly this point in time had begun here, when the first sith, the true sith and not those that only called themselves so due to their blood, had risen into the first empire, and started an never ending cycle of war between the forces of light and dark. In his years as knight and acolyte he had visited the desert frequently, hoping to find pieces of long lost wisdom somewhere between the old, dead stones, but they never told him what he was searching for.

Now he was a lord of the sith, but in some ways he was still lost in the dark. He didn't joined the sith for power, or to belong somewhere, he joined them because he felt the calling of the darkness, and not just in a metaphorical sense. As someone who was convinced that fate existed, as a part of the force, he early doubted the decisions he made when following his instincts, but in this very moment he felt doubt.

His apprentice was making progress, but not nearly as fast as he would like. Most sith lords, including him, had found a way to trick death once their body would fully fall under the weight of decay and corruption, but there was something far more important than his live: His legacy. Death had many faces, not just those of sickness and old age, and once it would find him a final time he had to be sure that he had left someone in the galaxy who was strong and wise enough to carry on his path.

And so he was here again, like the years had never passed by. Shrouded in his old, ragged robe he had worn since he became a sith, most of his face hidden below his wooden mask, with only his mouth and the sulfuric glow of his eyes visible on the outside, the sith rested on the sand of the desert, his legs crossed and his mind lost in the stream of darkness that still pulsated on Korriban. Once more he came in hopes of finding wisdom to lead him through the dark.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Darth Abyss"]

She wasn't looking for anything, not really, as she wandered along the path that twisted through the Valley of the Dark Lords. Most of what had been in the tombs was gone, stolen away by Sith and Jedi over the centuries and millennia for either safekeeping or personal collections. No, she found herself wandering along the path just seemingly lost in thought. The academy the Sith had built here, the concealed one under the desert sands and ruins, was a step up from the one she attended on Coruscant, but still not much better.

There was only so much she could take before a walk was needed, a cleansing of her head to just... enjoy the history that clung to this place. The instructors always warned away students from the valley, telling of the dangers that were inherent in this place. Hssiss, terentateks, pelkos, the list went on and on. She never really paid heed to those warnings, simply because she didn't feel threatened by what one might encounter here... well she shouldn't say that. It was more a cautious confidence she could handle herself in situations and plus... she could do her own research away from prying eyes. Ancient and powerful names were etched here, and while the sand and wind had worn them down, they still stood... monuments to the power of the Sith. And while the most valuable secrets were gone, there were still lessons to be learned by simply studying the ruins and tombs themselves.

She was seemingly unaware that she wasn't the only out there this time, engrossed in the half-eroded etchings on a pillar outside the tomb of Naga Sadow as she was.

 

[Darth Abyss]

Lost in his thoughts it took the sith lord a few moments to pick up on the force signature that was travelling through the valley. In place like this were the darkness surrounded him completely, it was hard to detect something or someone else, but his sense were highly attuned to artifacts and ruins, so he was able to make out the difference between the echoes left by power long lost and those created by a living and breathing being.

His eyes began to wander through the ruins and obelisks that pierced through the desert, watchful for whoever was interrupting his moment of solitude. Then they found the woman, that was investing the ancient monument that had rested against the test of time by the tomb of Naga Sadow, and from her attire he could concluded her alignment to darkness as easily as from her aura. It was rather unsurprising to find another follower of the dark path here, as when Korriban called, it did so for all that were ready to listen.

He remained still, almost fully motionless, with only his breath giving of the information that he was still alive. From her aura he could sense that she was certainly gifted, but the level of her strength was not comparable to his own. Chance was something he didn't believed in, so this meeting and whatever it would bring had to be fate. And so he would allow fate to play out what it had planned, waiting for the dark acolyte to pick up on the twisted, powerful presence that he emitted over the sands of Korriban.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Darth Abyss"]

While the dark side of the Force permeated everything on this world, making it hard to detect beings on it, like several different worlds throughout the galaxy, that didn't mean other senses couldn't be confused. That small hair raising on the back of your neck moment, when you just instinctively know someone or something is watching you, rose up for her. Still looking like she was engrossed in the pillar's etchings, she casually started looking around, stepping around the pillar to change her field of vision.

A robed figure, sitting in the sand, and while the Force made it difficult to detect anything, she had to guess this was no mere acolyte. This had to be a Lord. She would make her way over to him, the apologetic acolyte to the master.

"My apologies, my Lord," she said, bowing her head as she approached him and stood at a respectful distance. "I was unaware anyone else was out among the ruins tonight. If I have disturbed you, my humblest apologies."

 

[Darth Abyss]

"Apologies?"

While it was barley noticeable, if ta all, Abyss raised his eyebrow at this pretty formal way of being approached. It was good to see that the next generation of sith still had manners when meeting someone above them, but this was almost to submissive to be anything but a lie. Sure most acolytes lied to the masters, as they enviously watched the power they held, but at least most tried to make it less obvious.

"A sith knows no remorse, you should know that as well as I do. So either you are no true sith, or a liar."

The sith lord remained on the ground, only his sulfuric eyes moving to keep her in sight. He has numerous powerful and valuable artifacts on him, and she would neither be the first nor the last sith to be blinded by the might these objects offered. In her place he would've already worked on a plan to claim them for himself.

"Tell me, what has brought you into the Valley of the sleeping Gods?"

Many came to Korriban in hopes of finding something not yet found by the myriads of sith and other followers of the dark path that came here before them. Most failed, but there was still a lesson in everything that was accomplished on the sith homeworld, even if it was as simple as another remainder that only the strongest could truly fill the ranks of the sith. Others came because they, like Abyss, felt a spiritual connection to this place.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Darth Abyss"]

"Or I'm offering one of a higher rank due respect and it is simply a platitude to show manners," she responded. The situation didn't really call for a remorseful apology since all he had been doing was sitting in the valley and she had been walking and studying. She didn't have an idea about any artifacts he had on him, mainly because she couldn't see any of them or sense their presence with such a blanket of power lying about the place. Even if she did know, there were only certain things that interested her.

"I fancied a walk, my Lord," she continued, answering his question. "I'm an acolyte of the academy concealed here and I sometimes come out here to do some private studying or walk to digest what I've learned. Not many acolytes come out here without supervision, so it is a place away from prying eyes."

She didn't specify what or where she had learned such, leaving it open ended whether she meant the instructors or the archives here. In truth, the archives had taught her more than anything the instructors here actually had taught her, just like when she had been on Coruscant under the One Sith.

 

[Darth Abyss]

"A liar then. Good."

It was weird to spell out, but Abyss preferred liars over a honest person. Someone who wouldn't even bend the truth to make will become reality, lacked the right mindset to become a sith in the first place. But she spend her time in the subterranean academy the order had build here, him included, and while thr structure had its worth he found it to be lacking in a number of things. That was the reason why he had build his own academy, one that was superior to that on Korriban. It was a disgrace that the ancient homeworld was not the center of the evolution of the next generation, but the sith had to adapt like they had always done.

"The Korriban Academy is not much more than a joke to me. Its archives are lacking, many books that are rather common can not even be found there."

He always had liked books better than being trained by master, at least besides his train under Ophidia. They had shared the twist, dark bond between sith master and apprentice, and she had forged him to the Lord he was today. But besides her, no one had ever been able to teach him more than the books he had collected in his time with the sith.

"If you truly seek to advance on the path of the sith, you should search out the Academy on Malachor. The librarian there has collected even the more obscure literature regarding the dark side."

That librarian he spoke about was himself, but he wouldn't reveal that just yet. There was little implication that she was as interested in books as he was, but her trip to the vally at least told him that she admired the ancient history of the sith. There was clear archetype within the sith, and the historians were often those most entranced by wisdom and knowledge instead of simple power, exactly like Abyss was.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Darth Abyss"]

She wasn't sure when she had lied to the Lord, but if he thought that was good... then she wasn't going to complain. Plus, she was very very good at lying when the situation called for it. Just one thing she had focused on in her studies. She was somewhat intrigued by his, for lack of a better term, belittling of the Korriban academy and his promotion of an academy on Malachor. She had not been aware that an academy had been established on the world, but then she supposed it was only a matter of time before it happened, considering the growth it was undergoing.

"I find while books are a great tool, nothing truly beats learning from a master," she replied. "Obscure literature is all well and good, but I prefer more... practical approaches."

She had been, once, a member of the One Sith Inquisitors and much preferred that style of Sith than one who studied the dark arts, not that she wasn't above learning alchemy for certain pet projects. Even then, she still would much rather learn the more subtle arts of stealth and manipulation over sorcery or brute force. There was something thrilling about an operation to assassinate someone, or kidnap, or even do a false flag operation against an enemy or rival.

 

[Darth Abyss]

"You seem to underestimate their value, acolyte. Most of my knowledge, and therefore my power was born out of my studies of the ancient texts."

His master had made sure that he kept on the right path, punished and belittled him for failure and passed on missions to him in which he had to prove himself time and time again, but the skills he had acquired were found and learned in his own research. To Abyss knowledge there were very few members in the current order that had delved as deeply into to old books and texts than him, and that had given him an edge of his enemies more times than he could count.

"Masters give us direction, but the path of the darkness is one we all all walk on our own. An acolyte unfit to adapt and evolve alone is unfit for the sith themselves."

They weren't jedi, there was no friendship between master and apprentice, and neither was a master forced to teach an apprentice anything at all. Acolytes were there to learn, but masters weren't there to teach. Only those able to stand on their own would ever be able to rise to true sith.

[member="Eldaah Aderyn"]

 

[Eldaah Aderyn]

[member="Darth Abyss"]

"An interesting and intriguing philosophy, my Lord," she said, bowing her head again in respect to his words. That didn't mean she wasn't going to engage in the obvious debate though. He might be a Lord of the Sith, but that didn't mean debate wasn't valid. "I agree that Sith must have some individuality in how they discover the dark side and their power, within reason of course my Lord. The strong will survive and the weak will be left as but dust in the wind. But... if you will allow me this, then why do masters seek out acolytes to teach? If they are only to direct us occasionally, and leave us to learn on our own, then the master has no say in how the future of the Sith will be shaped. In that way... that master would become irrelevant and their philosophy would die with them in comparison to the masters that took a direct hand in the education of their apprentice and passed on those teachings of what THEY think is the true way of the Sith."

She wasn't saying, of course, that there needed to be a closeness in the relations between Master and Apprentice. No, there needed to be a clear distinction on who held the power and who craved to learn it. A master would challenge their apprentice, to see if they were worthy to learn more from them.